Philip Caruso, an NYPD beat cop who rose to lead the city’s largest police union during a time of intense contract negotiations and fiscal problems in the 1980s, has died. The Aug. 8 death of Caruso, 86, of Sayville, received scant publicity and surprised some of his former colleagues and associates who were told in recent days of his passing.

According to an obituary published on the website of Raynor & D’Andrea Funeral Home in West Sayville, which handled the arrangements, Caruso died after a six-year battle with cancer. The son of Italian immigrants, Caruso grew up in Brooklyn and found his calling in the NYPD after serving as a military police officer with the U.S. Army during the Korean War, according to his obituary. As a city cop, Caruso became involved in union politics.